hi mummymermaid, I applied to the state magistrates court for a domestic violence order against my ex for financial or economic abuse. The non payment or partial or late payment of child support fits the category of financial abuse under the Family Violence Act in state legislation (it is different for each state, so check out yours). The police prosecutor took on my case.

It was tricky because the state magistrate was uncertain about his jurisdiction because of the cross over with child support being a federal government matter, but he was keen to hear it. In the end I was not able to get an order because the night before the hearing my ex's lawyer wrote to the police prosecutor to say that he made a commitment to pay in full and on time. But what I do have is a case pending because it has been adjourned indefinitely and will go back before the court the moment the payment is not made in full or on time, and an order will be made.

Hi Pepper,Tht's fantastic news.Was this done in the family court or local court? i wonder if this applies to me too as my ex has $50 000 debt in arears but has gone on carer allowance and so i get the $1 day bs although the csa has put his income higher under earning capacity to pay $6000 pa AFTER he went on carer's allowance.Would the magistrate tell me that as mt ex is paying the $7/week that he is not abusing me financially?We also have consent orders that we both agree to send her to the private school and i pay for it all.Can i ask what state you are in Pepper?

hello mummymermaid, If CSA has set the CS at $6000, that is what he should be paying and if he has agreed to meet 50% of school costs on top of this, he should be paying that too. by failing to meet the payments on time or in full, he is guilty of financial abuse as defined under the act in Tas, Vic, and Qld just introduced financial abuse into its amended legislation this year:http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/commu ... n-act-2012

I did it in the state magistrates court, not the family court or federal court. It's a simple matter of abuse which falls under state legislation. The complication is that the money in dispute is CS which is set by the federal govt, but you just have to play that down. You need to stress that CSA have very limited powers and mechanisms to collect it, and clearly in your case with $50,000 arrears, they are not doing a great job!! I'm pretty sure no one would agree that he is not abusing you by paying $7/week when he should be paying at least $100 a week!!! Make it about the children, not just yourself, the money is for the welfare of the kids and they are being abused.

Go to your police station and ask to lodge a apprehended violence order and fill out the forms, list yourself and your kids as the abused. In tas they asked if I wanted to tell the other party of just have it put in place - if you get the option, just put it through straight away! He will find out through the system. Ring the police prosecutors office and ask them for advice- i did this and they took the case on and represented me so I didn;t need to prepare or get a lawyer.

you will need evidence, ask CSA for a printout of the payments made for as far back as you like to demonstrate he has been paying in dribs and drabs. Ask CSA to write to you stating the amount of arrears owing since what date and the current payment schedule. Use the consent orders too - did he agree to pay half the school fees? Any statements he has made in emails, texts or CSA files, eg. in COA processes that indicate he is trying to control you or your child/ren, manipulate or he is "withholding the necessary finacial support" for his child - use the words from the act. ie, my ex said 'if she maintains her current attitude, I might think about paying her more CS' and 'I'm really angry that CSA is letting her harass me by putting in a COA'

the legislation had never been tested in Tas before, so another reason why the magistrate was nervous about his jurisdiction. This will be the same in qld, if it hasn't been tested, they will be nervous about setting a precedent. So if the police are supporting you it;s better, they know how to run a case and if you have good evidence they will want to test the legislation.

and it now includes financial/economic abuse, so you may be able to use this one, I don't know??? I haven't looked at how to apply this and suspect it may be more complex than a routine AVO in the state court.

I believe the child support law that caps the income of the person paying at $130K is unfair. It discriminates against those who earn less than this amount as they pay child support based on their whole income. Also, it discriminates against the child. If the parents were still together the child would have the lifestyle that the income afforded (eg housing, schools etc). According to child support this has been done as it is based on the cost of raising a child but this is only based on average figures. If the parents income is above average then the childs lifestyle also tends to be above average. To say that the child must have an average lifestyle because the parents are no longer together is wrong.

My ex has just lodged his tax return as he now earns $320K+. I am back at Uni studying to be a Primary Teacher. Our child has Autism and no longer wants to stay at his dads overnight. I have informed him I am changing the child support care arrangement back to me having 100% care and he now wants to FORCE our child to stay overnight so he doesn't have to pay as much. Even though my only income is parenting payment I still pay half the private school fees. When I say I can't afford it his response is 'send him to a State school'. He needs the routine that a Private school provides. How can someone earn so much and not want to give their child the best?

The child support laws seem to be made by men who have high incomes and want to find a way to pay less child support. It is wrong. Child support should be based on both parents incomes no matter how high the income.

I send my daughter to a private school too.It is in the family court orders thats where she goes to school.My ex pays me $1/day and i pay $12000 pa fees.My daughter loves the school and got the top point of band 6 in every subject for naplan and the class has only 16 students.So i want to leave her there as long as i can.But at the moment i can't even have money to cloth myself or even go to the hairdressers whilst the ex is living at the Mums in housing and gets paid carers allowance and doesn't pay rent nothing.he smokes 2 packs a day and sits outside smoking and thinking how he can avoid child support and won't buy a single asset.What a waste of life.That's not living.Won't even get married as who wants someone who refuses to be linked to any assets.He is nearly 50 years old.I once logged on to the male version of this site and it has all men posting how to avoid child support and go on the dole and how to get the mum to pay them child support etc.They have more time to fight than we do.